Tribology Letters, Vol. 14, No.

3, April 2003 (# 2003 ) 187

Fretting laboratory tests: Analysis of the mechanical response of

test rigs
A. Ramalhoa,* and J.-P. Celisb
a
Universidade de Coimbra FCTUC—Dep. Eng. Mecânica Pólo II, Pinhal de Marrocos, P-3030 Coimbra (Portugal)
b
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven—Dept. MTM Kasteelpark Arenberg 44, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium)

Received 22 February 2002; accepted 10 October 2002

The current state of the art of the experimental approach to fretting is discussed. The mechanical response of fretting equipment is
analysed to establish the limits of the reliable use of fretting rigs. The effect of stiffness and dynamic response of fretting test rigs are
extensively discussed, and a simple one freedom-degree model is proposed to describe, in a first approach, the response of the
tangential force measuring systems.
KEY WORDS: fretting, testing devices, dynamic analysis, tribology

Nomenclature lished results is frequently experienced, mainly resulting

from the large number of variables that influence the
A radius of the Hertzian contact
c radius of the stick circle
fretting phenomena and the extreme difficulty to control
C damping coefficient of the tangential force measuring system some of them. Some theoretical models [1,2], although
D peak-to-peak displacement amplitude rather difficult to be used in the design of fretting con-
f frequency of the test tacts, are very useful, at least, to understand and explain
G shear elastic modulus
the effect of the main testing variables.
mt equivalent mass of the components of the tangential force
measuring system Related to the accuracy of test rigs, only limited
N normal load information is available currently. In some work, the
Kc stiffness of the components placed between the contact point effect of rigidity on the accuracy of the displacement was
and the displacement sensor investigated [3,4]. However, the effect of rigidity and
Ke elastic rigidity of the contact inertia on the dynamic response of fretting equipment
Kt stiffness of the tangential force measuring system
Q tangential or friction force also has to be considered. To the best of our knowledge,
Qmax amplitude of the tangential or friction force a study on the effect of the dynamic response of fretting

measured displacement equipment on the accuracy of the outputs measured

c displacement resulting from the elastic deformation of the during fretting tests has not yet been published.
components placed between the contact point and the The aim of this work is a critical appraisal of
displacement sensor

e displacement resulting from the elastic deformation of
laboratory fretting test equipment in order to establish a
the contact basis for analysis, and to determine the safe working

s slipping amplitude zone. Such data are presented that were obtained for a
 phase angle fretting set-up recently developed at K.U. Leuven, Dept.
 friction coefficient MTM (Belgium), for high-temperature tests.
 Poisson ratio
 damping ratio of the tangential force measuring system
! angular frequency of the test
!n natural frequency of the tangential force measuring system
2. Theoretical background

Contacts between spherical bodies have been studied

1. Introduction
At present, fretting wear is commonly investigated by
testing materials under simulated laboratory conditions.
Unfortunately, a significant discrepancy among pub-
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. e-mail: amilcar.
ramalho@mail.dem.uc.pt
previously [1,2,5,6]. In the case of fretting, the study of
contacts operated under the simultaneous action of
normal and tangential loads is of prime interest.
The plane/sphere contact considering semi-infinite
bodies submitted to a normal load N and a tangential
load Q is presented in figure 1. When the applied tan-
gential load Q is lower than the limit of friction N,
considering the Coulomb approach with a coefficient of
1023-8883/03/0400-0187/0 # 2003 Plenum Publishing Corporation
188 A. Ramalho, J.-P. Celis/Fretting laboratory tests: Analysis of the mechanical response of test rigs

1.5
δ
Tangential force (Qmax/µN) 1 C P1
N
B Q
0.5
A a c c a
0
P2
-0.5

-1

-1.5
-4 -2 0 2 4

Tangential Displacement δ
(a) (b)

Figure 1. (a) Evolution of the relative tangential displacement between first bodies with the applied tangential load. (b) Schematic diagram of a
sphere/plane contact submitted to the action of a normal load N and a tangential load Q.

friction , a tangential displacement
between the with

points P1 and P2 is established.
When the applied tangential load oscillates between
+Qmax and
Qmax, the plots of Q against the tangential
displacement
result in hysteresis loops whose form
depends on the magnitude of the tangential force. If the
applied tangential load is smaller than the limit of fric-
tion, a mixed stick-slip regime occurs and the display of
tangential force versus displacement is characterised by
a narrow hysteresis loop, whose theoretical form can be
derived easily using Mindlin’s model [1]. Two cases of
mixed regimes for values of Qmax/N of 0.5 and 1 are
shown in figure 1 (curves A and B). For very small
values of the tangential force, the slip is very limited and
the hysteresis loops are almost closed (figure 1, curve A).
This lower region of the mixed regime is also called the
stick regime.
When the applied tangential force exceeds the limit of
friction, the displacement is extended to the whole
contact area and the loops are deformed by the resulting
incipient gross slip (figure 1, curve C).
Mindlin [1] also derived an expression that allows the
calculation of the work of the tangential force, valid for
Qmax < N:

 5=3
9ðNÞ2 K Qmax
Wd ¼ 1
1

10a N
 
5Qmax

1
1

6N
2
1 2
2
K¼ þ :
G1 G2
The value resulting from equation (1) represents the
main input of energy in fretting contacts. Recent
research [7,8] has shown that the energy can be calcu-
lated not only for the mixed regime but also for gross
slip conditions, and that approach is most helpful to
predict the extent of wear. There are two main problems
to applying these theoretical models to the design of
fretting test equipment, namely the fact that the models
are generally restricted to the elastic domain, and that a
constant coefficient of friction is assumed. The first point
is maybe not so restrictive when the contact is analysed
on a macro scale. However, the second point is very
restrictive since, in general, due to the close contact
conditions in fretting, the kinetics, and the material
aspects mainly related to debris and surface layers, the
coefficient of friction can vary widely during the tribo-
logical life. Therefore, laboratory testing is the main tool
to evaluate the fretting behaviour of materials, and to
establish the main design criteria.
In order to perform accurate fretting tests, the
equipment used must fulfill the following three main
requirements. A high reliability of the applied displace-
ment in terms of amplitude and middle-point stability is
required, as well as a high accuracy of the relative dis-
2=3  placement measurements during the test; and a high
Qmax
ð1Þ accuracy of the measurements of the tangential force
N
arising in the contact.
 A. Ramalho, J.-P. Celis/Fretting laboratory tests: Analysis of the mechanical response of test rigs 189

Nowadays the availability of very sophisticated con- 1.2

trol devices successfully meets the first requirement.
However, the simultaneously fulfillment of the remaining
two conditions is not evident. In fact, the optimisation 0.8

Tangential force (Qmax/µN)

of these requirements involves linked variables that
usually act in an opposite sense. Indeed, the best way to 0.4 With
achieve accurate relative displacements is the use of very compliance
rigid frames and moving parts. However, the measure-
ment of the tangential force requires transducers with a 0
low rigidity in order to get a high sensitivity.
This problem is even more complex because friction -0.4
is a reaction force arising in the contact, so its mea-
surement is not possible in a direct way. The common
solution is to measure the equilibrium force of the -0.8
system, but this measurement is affected by the kine-
matics of the mechanical system accordingly to the -1.2
D’Alembert principle. This fact is not that important -10 -5 0 5 10
in most tribology uni-directional sliding tests because
the acceleration used is small and/or more or less Tangential Displacement δ
stable. However, in bi-directional or reciprocating tests (a)
the abrupt variation of acceleration can strongly affect 1.2
the results, mainly when the frequency of the test is
high. The dynamic response affects the measured tan-
gential force values dependent on the proximity 0.8
Tangential force (Qmax/µN)

between the natural frequencies of the mechanical

system used to measure the force, and the frequency of 0.4
the tangential force itself. This clearly depends on the With
existence of resonance frequencies in the testing range. compliance
As a consequence, a high rigidity of the parts requires 0
an accurate design and usually a high mass, while a
high sensitivity of the load sensors requires a low -0.4
rigidity of the sensor itself, even for quartz sensors.
When the limit of friction is exceeded, the tangential
force suddenly varies, originating harmonics some -0.8
orders above the test frequency. The increase of the
mass of the moving parts together with a reduction of -1.2
the rigidity of the connections between the mass and
-10 -5 0 5 10
the frame results in a drop of the natural frequencies.
Thus, taking into account the last of the previous Tangential Displacement δ
facts, dynamic effects on the measurements of the (b)
tangential force can arise.
Figure 2. Effect of the compliance of the test system on the fretting
It can thus be stated that fretting experiments always
loops. The compliance considered is 5 m/N in both cases (a) and (b).
lead to results that include two main types of errors. The
first error is linked to the accuracy of the measured
displacements, e.g. the measurement always includes the
effect of the compliance of the system. The second error 3. Description of the fretting test equipment
is linked to the dynamic response of the tangential force
system and is developed hereafter. The effect of the From a theoretical point of view, fretting tests mode
compliance of a fretting test rig on the hysteresis loops I, in which a linear reciprocating displacement is
has been studied by Fouvry et al. [4] and Vingsbo [3], imposed to the contacting surfaces [9], can be carried
and is shown in figure 2 for loops calculated by taking out under displacement or force control. The difference
compliance values of 5 m/N or by not taking into between the two options is linked to the parameter kept
account the effect of the compliance. From the repre- at constant amplitude during the tests. In the case of
sented loops, it can be concluded that a large difference displacement control, a vibration with constant dis-
in the measurements can arise, so that in order to obtain placement amplitude is applied to the contact, and in the
actual values the results must be corrected considering case of force control the amplitude of the tangential
the system compliance. force remains constant.
190 A. Ramalho, J.-P. Celis/Fretting laboratory tests: Analysis of the mechanical response of test rigs
In most fretting-wear tests, a constant amplitude
vibration is applied leaving the tangential force to vary
freely. That solution was adopted in the fretting test rig
investigated in this study (see schematic drawing in fig-
ure 3). The requirements considered at the design stage
of the equipment were as follows: a displacement
between 1 and 2000 m, a normal force between 1 and
20 N, and a testing temperature up to 1200  C. The
concept and design have been developed based on pre-
viously acquired experience [10]. The main features of
this test rig are: a precision lapped granite base (1) that
supports a granite portico (2) and an air-bearing linear
system (3) driven by a non-contact sinusoidal linear
motor through a digital servo-controller using a linear
digital encoder as feedback. The lower specimen holder
(4) is directly connected to the linear system (3). The
granite portico supports the pivot (5) of the loading arm
(6). The loading arm works as a balance, with at one
extremity a linear electromagnetic actuator applying the
normal load to the upper specimen. The specimen
holder (7) is assembled at the other extremity of the
loading arm. The holder of the upper specimen (7) is
connected to the loading arm (6) by four quartz force-
transducers (8) in parallel. For tests at high temperature,
an oven (9) with MoSi2 heating elements surrounding
the contact zone was designed. To allow test tempera-
tures up to 1200 8C, ceramic holders support the speci-
mens. Cooling systems with water in the moving
specimen and with air in the stationary parts prevent the
heating up of adjacent metallic parts. Special pre-load-
ing metallic elements accommodate for the thermal
expansion between ceramic and metallic parts.
The selection of the components and the design were
done in such a way that rigid solutions were obtained.
Nevertheless, to allow tests at high temperatures, some
compromises had to be accepted. The most restrictive
6 2
8
5 7
9
4 1
3
2
1
Figure 3. Schematic diagram of the high-temperature fretting test
apparatus. 1. Granite base. 2. Granite portico. 3. Motorised table. 4.
Lower specimen holder. 5. Pivot. 6. Loading arm. 7. Upper specimen
holder. 8. Quartz force-transducers. 9. Oven.
one is the fact that the quartz transducers used to
measure the tangential force are not aligned with the
friction force. Thus the moment resultant from the
friction force significantly reduces the stiffness.
Fretting tests are performed by applying displace-
ments of different wave shapes. Usually fretting tests are
carried out using harmonic or triangular displacement
waves, but the triangular form is most frequently used in
low-frequency tests because it is characterised by con-
stant speeds. Thus, if a triangular displacement wave is
applied with a peak-to-peak displacement amplitude D
and a frequency f, the corresponding velocity law is a
square wave with an amplitude of 2Df. However, the
theoretical form of the triangular wave implies an infi-
nite acceleration in the reversing points. Thus, the per-
formance limits of fretting tests depend on the available
driven force and the inertia of the moving parts.
Nevertheless, the practical limits are much lower,
depending on the reliability imposed on the velocity
curve. In fact, the real velocity deviates from the square
wave near the reversing points. The theoretical dis-
placement, the velocity and the acceleration curves for
the cases of acceleration transitions corresponding to 5
and 10% of the period are plotted in figure 4. On using
the values of inertia of the moving parts and of the
available force in the driven unity, the performance
limits of the equipment can be established. The theore-
tical limits of the high-temperature equipment in a fre-
100
5%
Acceleration y''
50 10%
0
-50
-100
Velocity y'
1
0
-1
-2
-3
Displacement y
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Time ( T )
Figure 4. Calculated displacement, velocity and acceleration curves
assuming an acceleration duration of 5 and 10% of the period. A
triangular wave is assumed for the displacement.
 A. Ramalho, J.-P. Celis/Fretting laboratory tests: Analysis of the mechanical response of test rigs 191

200 and located as near as possible to the contact point.

Otherwise, very rigid parts have to be used, and the
5% T
absolute displacement of the moving part is measured
10% T
160 by using the base of the equipment as a reference.
Obviously, the second solution is more restrictive in tests
at high frequency.
Frequency (Hz)

120 The oven required for high-temperature fretting tests

impedes access to the contact point. Therefore, the dis-
placement is measured as the absolute displacement of
80 the moving system (see (3) in figure 3). The measured
displacement is similar to the relative displacement
between the moving and the fixed specimen since all the
40 structure is very rigid. A representative fretting loop
obtained in a contact sphere/plane, both made of cor-
undum, under the test conditions indicated in table 1, is
0 shown in figure 6. This loop is characteristic of gross slip
0.01 0.1 1 10 and includes two slip zones linked by elastic deforma-
Displacement amplitude (mm) tion zones. The displacement corresponding to the
elastic zones represents the summing of the components
Figure 5. Theoretical limits of the high-temperature fretting rig
e and
c expressed in equation (4). From a series of tests
considering acceleration duration of 5 and 10% of the period. carried out at normal load ranging between 5 and 20 N,
peak-to-peak displacement of 25 and 50 m, and keep-
quency-amplitude plot are shown in figure 5 for the two ing the other parameters according to table 1, the slope
cases identified in figure 4. of the elastic parts of the fretting loops was calculated.

Table 1
4. Kinematics and dynamic characterisation of the Test conditions used for the tests performed for determining the
fretting test equipment rigidity of the test rig.

4.1. Rigidity of the system Contact Ball ( 10 mm) on flat

Materials Alumina/Alumina (Ceratec, The Netherlands)
A displacement
is applied to a hertzian contact Environment Air 50% RH, 22 8C
Normal load (N) 5, 10 and 20
between materials considered to behave elastically. Displacement wave Triangular, 2 Hz
Then, the displacement accommodation involves three Amplitude (m) 25 and 50 (peak-to-peak)
main components, namely the elastic displacement of Test duration (cycles) 500
the contact
e, the displacement resulting from the
compliance of the equipment
c, and the relative slipping

s, if the limit of friction is exceeded:
8

¼
e þ
c þ
s : ð2Þ
6
The elastic displacement
e can be calculated from 1.759 N/ m
equation (3) using the concept of elastic rigidity of the 4
contact, ke. The displacement resulting from the defor-
Tangential force (N)

mation of the equipment can be calculated from equa- 2

tion (4) if the stiffness, kc, of the equipment is available.
0

e ¼ Q  ke ð3Þ 0 10 20 30
-2

c ¼ Q  kc : ð4Þ
-4
The effective slipping between the surfaces,
s, can be 1.686 N/ m
derived from equation (2) once the terms
e and
c are -6
calculated. The term
c, corresponding to the deforma-
tion of the equipment, depends on the rigidity of the -8
mechanical parts that link the points used to measure Displacement ( m)
the relative displacement at the contact. To minimise
c,
the measurement ought to be done in a differential mode Figure 6. Experimental gross-slip fretting loops for a corundum
using two points, one on each part of the contact pair sphere/corundum flat contact.
192 A. Ramalho, J.-P. Celis/Fretting laboratory tests: Analysis of the mechanical response of test rigs

This slope corresponds to the rigidity of the equipment iHorzontal

and the contact, and a calculated mean value of 1.752
Vertical
N/m with a standard deviation of 0.24 was obtained.

4.2. Identification of resonance

Spectra
Besides the equipment limits resulting from the
driving power or from the accuracy of the displace-
ments, the occurrence of resonance can restrict the fre-
quency limits of the testing equipment. Impacts on the
fretting equipment have been used to verify the reso-
nance frequencies of the different components. A ham-
mer was used to impact on the fretting equipment
components, and the vibration response was measured
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
with a suitably located piezo-electric accelerometer. The
Frequency (Hz)
spectra of the peak acceleration in vertical and in hor-
izontal directions for the granite main base, the granite (a)
portico, and the loading arm are shown in figure 7. The
Horizontal
granite main base and portico show both resonance
Vertical
frequencies above 500 Hz, but the loading arm that
supports the upper specimen has a lower resonance
frequency at 136 Hz (with a bandwidth of 19.5 Hz).
These resonance values are much higher than the fre- Spectra
quency of 10 to 20 Hz usually used in fretting tests
performed in test rigs of the type shown in figure 3.
However, if the displacement or the tangential force
changes abruptly, some dynamic disturbances can arise
on the force signals.
The loading arm includes different parts, namely the
upper specimen holder, the balancing arm, the tangen-
tial load cells, the ball bearings pivot, and the electro-
magnetic load system. The peak at 136 Hz is more 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
evident in horizontal vibration, which is the direction of
Frequency (Hz)
the action of the tangential force. It is thus necessary to
verify whether this resonance can affect the tangential (b)
force measuring system.

4.3. Dynamic response of the tangential force measuring

system
To study the dynamic response of the tangential force-
Spectra

measurement system of the fretting device of figure 3, a

lumped mass-spring-damping model was used (figure 8).
In such a system, a load cell measures the force trans-
mitted to the support of the superior specimen holder.
Using the general dynamic approach [11], the measured
force, Ft, is proportional to the friction force, and
expressed by equation (5):
0
2vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi3 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
u  
6uu ! 2 7 Frequency (Hz)
6u 1 þ 2 7
6u !n 7 (c)
Ft ¼ Qmax 6u"  2 # 2  2 7 sinð!t
Þ
6u ! ! 7
4t 5
1
þ 2 Figure 7. Experimental power spectra of the acceleration for the main
!n !n
parts of the fretting rig. (a) Granite main base. (b) Granite portico. (c)
ð5Þ Normal-loading arm.
 A. Ramalho, J.-P. Celis/Fretting laboratory tests: Analysis of the mechanical response of test rigs 193

0.15
N
Load Cell
0.1
kt
Ft
0.05

Force (N)
Ct
0
(a) Q 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.3
5 0.4

-0.05
(t)
-0.1

-0.15
Time (s)
kt
Figure 9. Free vibration response of the tangential force measuring
(b) Q F system.
mt
Ct
0.0

0.0
Figure 8. Schematic representation of the mass-spring-damping model
used to study the response of the tangential force measuring system (a)
0.0
and the corresponding physical model (b).
0.0
Power Spectra

with Ft the measured force (N), Qmax the amplitude of 0

the friction force (N), ! the frequency of the test (rad/s),
!n the natural frequency of the system (rad/s),  the 0

damping ratio, and  the phase of the measured force Ft

related to the friction force Qmax (rad).
From equation (5), the measured force Ft appears to
be proportional to the friction force F and has a har-
monic variation with the same frequency, but with a
phase difference angle of , expressed by equation (6):
2   3 0.0
! 3
6 2 7 0.0
6 !n 7
 ¼ arctg6  2  2 7:
4 ! ! 5
1
þ 2
!n !n
The relationship between the amplitude of the measured
force and the friction force is usually called transmissi-
bility. Both transmissibility and the phase angle depend
on the frequency of the test.
The model described above can be applied to ensure
correct results on the condition that some dynamic
characteristics of the measuring system are measured. In
that respect, the free vibration response of the system
was obtained by acquiring the signal of the friction load
cell resulting from an impact, in the tangential direction,
on the upper specimen holder (figure 9). From the free
response, the damping factor and the natural frequency
were calculated, giving  ¼ 0:0333 and !n ¼ 2
148 rad/s, respectively.
0
0
0.0
ð6Þ 0 200 400 0
60
Freq. (Hz)
Figure 10. Spectra of the tangential force resulting from hammer
impacts.
The natural frequency can also be measured by
identifying the first resonance frequency in the spectra of
the tangential force signal. Figure 10 shows two spectra
acquired for different impacts. The mean value of the
natural frequency obtained in this way is
!n ¼ 2  152 rad/s. This value agrees well with the
frequency of the lower resonance point identified by
analysing the response of the normal loading arm.
Using these values of the damping factor and the
natural frequency, the correction factor of the amplitude
and of the phase (figure 11) of the measured tangential
194 A. Ramalho, J.-P. Celis/Fretting laboratory tests: Analysis of the mechanical response of test rigs

100 2 Table 2
Phase Test conditions used for the study of the effect of normal load and
frequency on fretting tests.
Ft/Qmax 1.5
Contact Ball ( 10 mm) on flat
1 Materials Alumina/Alumina (Ceratec, The
Netherlands)
Ft/Qmax

Environment Air 50% RH, 20 8C

φ (rad)
10 0.5 Displacement wave Triangular
Amplitude (m) 50 (peak-to-peak)
0
Test duration (cycles) 500
Effect of normal load Frequency (Hz) 2
Normal load (N) 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20
-0.5 Effect of frequency Frequency (Hz) 2, 5, 10 and 20
Normal load (N) 10

1 -1
0 50 100 150 200
Frequency (Hz)

Figure 11. Effect of the test frequency on the amplitude and on the
phase of the tangential force assuming a one-freedom-degree system
and sinusoidal waves.
60 2
0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 N
1.5
50

1
Displacement [ µm ]

40
0.5
Velocity

30 0
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1
-0.5
20
-1
10
-1.5
0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 N
0 -2
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 Time [ T ]
Time [ T ]
(a) (b)

10 10
0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 N
8 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 N 8

6 6

4
Tangential Force [ N ]
Tangential force [ N ]

2 2

0 0
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 0 20 40 60
-2 -2

-4 -4

-6 -6

-8 -8

-10 -10
Displacement [ m]
Time [ T ]
(c) (d)

Figure 12. Effect of the normal load on the fretting tests. (a) Displacement. (b) Velocity. (c) Tangential force. (d) Fretting loops.
 A. Ramalho, J.-P. Celis/Fretting laboratory tests: Analysis of the mechanical response of test rigs 195

8 60 8

50

Tangential force [ N ]
Tangential force [ N ]

4 4

Displacement [µm]
40
0 30 0
0 0.5 1 0 20 40 60
20
-4 -4
10
-8 0 -8
Tim e [ T ] Displacement [ µm ]
0 0.5 1
Time [ T ]
a)
8 60 8

50
Tangential force [ N ]

Tangential force [ N ]
Displacement [µm]

4 4
40
0 30 0
0 0.5 1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
20
-4 -4
10
-8 0 -8
Tim e [ T ] Displacement [ µm ]
0 0.5 1
Time [ T ]
b)
8 60 8

50
Tangential force [ N ]
Tangential force [ N ]

Displacement [µm]

4 4
40

0 30 0
0 0.5 1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
20
-4 -4
10

-8 0 -8
Tim e [ T ] Displacement [ µm ]
0 0.5 1
Time [ T ]
c)

8 60 8
m]

50
Tangential force [ N ]

Tangential force [ N ]

4 4
40
Displacement [

0 30 0
0 0.5 1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
20
-4 -4
10
-8 0 -8
Tim e [ T ] Displacem ent [ m ]
0 0.5 1
Time [ T ]
d)

Figure 13. Effect of the test frequency on the fretting tests. (a) Displacement. (b) Tangential force. (c) Fretting loops.
196 A. Ramalho, J.-P. Celis/Fretting laboratory tests: Analysis of the mechanical response of test rigs
force were determined from equations (7) and (8). The
linearity of the tangential force is better than 95% when
the frequency of the test is less than 30 Hz, and it is
higher than 99% for frequencies below 4 Hz. For the
same limits of the frequency, the phase angle also has a
very small value.
4.4. Experimental verification of the dynamic response
In order to verify the response of the fretting equip-
ment, experiments were done using a sphere/plane
contact, both made of corundum, and varying the nor-
mal load and the test frequency (table 2). The increase of
the normal load from 0.5 to 20 N leads to a change in
the displacement curves (figure 12). For normal loads up
to 2 N, the displacement shape is very near to the the-
oretical triangular one with constant speed over the
entire stroke (figures 12(a) and (b)). However, at higher
normal loads, mainly 10 and 20 N, the actuation system
needs a significant time to reciprocate the movement,
leading to changes in the speed evolution (figure 12(b)).
Nevertheless, the tangential force and the loops do not
show any disturbance at the tested values of the normal
loads (figures 12(c) and (d)).
The effect of the frequency was investigated by varying
the frequency from 2 to 20 Hz (figure 13). The effect of the
frequency on the displacement is very small. Thus, the
actuation system is more restricted in tests at high loads
than in tests at high frequency. The power is sufficient but
it would be advantageous to have a higher actuation
force. The analysis of tangential force and fretting loops
(figures 13(b) and (c)) reveals that the mean value of the
tangential force and the shape of the fretting loops remain
quite constant at the tested frequencies. However, for the
tests at 10 and 20 Hz, the tangential force shows an
oscillation superposed on the average value. Measuring
the period, the frequency of this oscillation was calculated
and appears to be more or less 140 Hz. This damped
transient oscillation corresponds to the free response of
the measuring system of the tangential force. In fact, this
oscillation corresponds to the frequency previously
identified as the natural frequency of the tangential force-
measuring system. The effect of the oscillation on the
fretting loops is a disturbance that is more evident at the
start of the slipping, leading to a protuberance often
exhibited by fretting loops [10], and sometimes wrongly
identified as an effect of the static friction.
5. Concluding remarks
The main problems in fretting wear tests performed
in laboratory test rigs were pointed out. In fretting, the
tangential displacements are very small and all dis-
turbance sources must be minimised. The effect of
stiffness and dynamic response of the test rigs have been
extensively discussed. A simple one freedom-degree
model is proposed to describe in a first approach the
response of the tangential force-measuring systems. In
order to obtain comparable results in different fretting
test equipment, some rules must be established con-
cerning the dynamic characteristics.
Acknowledgments
AR thanks for the sabbatical bursary granted by the
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.
The technical assistance of ing. Marc Peeters in setting
up the fretting equipment and the fretting test series is
most appreciated. Part of this research was funded by
the Flemish Science Foundation FWO (contract
G.0352.98) and by the European Commission (contract
BRITE EUPIII—BRPR-CT97-0380).
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